HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing

Waving Lace socks
Project details on Ravelry

Non-GMO seeds - free!

I was poking around on the blogs that I follow and found this post about growing heirloom tomatoes--
Chiot's Run: Heirloom Tomato Seeds from WinterSown.

We enjoyed the heirloom tomatoes from the farmers' market last year and we've been talking about growing some of our own. I probably should have requested the seeds a month earlier, but what the heck?

For the price of 3 first class stamps, I thought I'd get a variety of heirloom tomato seeds. A pretty good deal, right? Little did I know that all this would arrive:


Seeds for the garden

Non-GMO seeds from WinterSown.org clockwise from upper right:

• Celosia plumosa, Cockscomb
  
• Cleome hasslerana, White Sparkle
  
• Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass
  
• Lucullus, Swiss Chard
  
• WinterSown's Own Tomato Blend
  
• Calendula officinalis, Calendula mix
  
• Oenothera lamarckiana, Evening Primrose
  
• Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
  
• Tricyrtis hirta, Toad Lily

Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, and Kohlrabi are going to get started in an egg carton. Score!

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


Pomatomus socks
Project details on Ravelry

First Jam 2010

The Farmers' Market had strawberries today... big, juicy strawberries.


Farmers' Market strawberries

The 3 baskets were shy of 6 cups mashed fruit, so I cut up a Fuji Apple to make up the difference. Voila, the first jam of 2010.


Strawberry-Fuji Apple Jam


mmm...

Springtime

Spring officially starts on March 20 in the Northern Hemisphere and through the magic of web cams we can expand our view and see spring events near and far:

Poppy's curly colt was born yesterday in TN. I tuned in just in time to see it happen. That was amazing.




Phoebe the Channel Islands Allen's Hummingbird is in Orange County, CA. Her 2 eggs are expected to hatch at any time. The nest is the size of a golf ball and the eggs are as small as tic tacs. I'm really looking forward to this one.




Molly the Barn Owl is in San Marcos, CA. She's sitting on 5 eggs that are expected to hatch at any time. Molly's cam has an infrared feed which allows viewing at night.

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


My First Socks

Back to East Meets West

Stitches West and a deadline kept me away from East Meets West, but now I'm back on it. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the colors I need today. (Doh.) So instead of knitting, I'll show off the progress to date:


East Meets West - side / bottom
Project details on Ravelry

I definitely like these color choices. 6 rounds to go!

Hey, I know what that is

Playing with fiber rubs off on those closest to us, don't you agree?

R met with a good friend of his and that friend showed him a hat that someone brought from Mongolia. R said, "Hey, I know what that is," and asked to borrow it so he could show it to me.

I love this.


Felt hat from Mongolia

It feels like wool felt and it is molded into the hat shape. The brim is turned up twice. It's not very thick and as a result feels delicate. I don't know how someone brought it all the way from Mongolia without denting it... they must have had a hatbox. There are no signs of wear and it's on the small side.



Check out the design on the opposite side:



Mongolia has horses, sheep, camels, and goats (cashmere goats!)--maybe this is a goat?



The design appears to be needle felted because this area is ever-so-slightly thicker than the rest of the hat.

Thank you for sharing.

Flour, water, yeast, and salt

My weekly go-to bread is the Master Recipe on page 53 of


Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Flour, water, yeast, and salt plus vital wheat gluten produces a lively batch of bread dough in about 2 hours.


4 lbs of HBin5

A few hours in the fridge calms the yeast down--in this case it rested overnight. The next morning half of the dough was cut off, shaped into a loaf, and placed in a buttered loaf pan.


2 lb loaf dusted, scored, and rising

2 hours later--


It's ready for the oven

This smells so good.


1 hour @ 375 F

Waiting for it to cool was not easy.


Cooling

But it was worth it.


Still warm (and very tasty)

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm in the mood for colorwork so I'm wearing


Fair Isle socks
Project details on Ravelry

Where's the snowman? There's the snowman!

Remember the Snowman Illusion Mitts?


Palms


Backs


Snowmen!
Project Details on Ravelry

I was knitting them for Margit for a photo shoot and look where they ended up--in a KnitPicks Mitten Class video!



The pattern is available from the KnitPicks Independent Designer Patterns - $1.99 series: Snowman Illusion Mitten.

The mittens were quick and easy to knit and the pair used less than a skein of Palette in each color.

Interested? Click here: Snowman Illusion Mitten Pattern.

Bohus Stickning

Bohus Stickning with Susanna Hansson.

This is one of the best classes I've taken at Stitches West. The story of these women is amazing. It is as inspiring as their work is perfectly beautiful. I like Susanna's style and as usual she is passionate about the subject and shares many exquisite samples.

The class project is a pair of Blue Shimmer Cuffs.


Bohus Stickning Blue Shimmer cuff

This photo is for Lisa who's saying, "Show us your floats!"


Bohus Stickning Blue Shimmer cuff WS

Group photo!


Bohus Stickning Blue Shimmer cuffs

Boba group photo!


Knittin' friends

Here's one more before the Bohus photos--


with Susanna

Now I'm pleased to present the parade of Bohus. All of these pieces are vintage, not re-creations, and they're even more impressive in person. Thank you Susanna.